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32nd out of 187 books
—
59 voters
The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850
The Little Ice Age tells the story of the turbulent, unpredictable, and often very cold years of modern European history, how this altered climate affected historical events, and what it means for today's global warming. Building on research that has only recently confirmed that the world endured a 500year cold snap, renowned archaeologist Brian Fagan shows how the increas...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
December 27th 2001
by Basic Books
(first published 2000)
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Technically I did not finish this, since I had to take it back to the library before I could finish the last three chapters, but I did skim them. So, I read this book. In its entirety. Don't try to talk me out of it.
Very informative! It seems that weather gets ignored a lot in history, when weather played a pretty big role in deciding the survival of life itself in the pre-industrial world. The only time it gets mentioned, really, is when it plays a large role in some single struggle, like the w...more
Very informative! It seems that weather gets ignored a lot in history, when weather played a pretty big role in deciding the survival of life itself in the pre-industrial world. The only time it gets mentioned, really, is when it plays a large role in some single struggle, like the w...more
My favourite kind of pop-science writing! This is so easy to read, and supported by a ton of references and further reading without unbearably cluttering up the text. The only part which I'd rate less then 5 stars is the conclusion. I'm not sure if Fagan's publishers wouldn't let him write something more realistic, but the notion that humans will suddenly decide to "work for the global rather than the national good, for the welfare of our grandchildren and greatgrandchildren rather than to satis...more
There is some really great, well researched information here about plagues, famines, droughts, ice storms, etc. I got the drift that some nations have been more affected than others because of the crops they choose-or have access to. Britain was able to largely avoid the later famines while France was not. Britain was able to depend on the potato a great deal-obviously the irish famine could have been largely avoided had the British not been so nonchalant about the deaths of 1 million people.
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Nice little book marred by the insertion of a unnecessary global warming chapter.
Brian Fagan's The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850 is, by definition, an introduction to the climate phenomenon of the same name. Actually, it is quite similar to a History Channel documentary of the same name. On page xix Fagan notes that historians are either "parachutists" (big picture) or "truffle hunters" (love all of the details of one particular era or topic). Fagan warns that this is a pa...more
Brian Fagan's The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850 is, by definition, an introduction to the climate phenomenon of the same name. Actually, it is quite similar to a History Channel documentary of the same name. On page xix Fagan notes that historians are either "parachutists" (big picture) or "truffle hunters" (love all of the details of one particular era or topic). Fagan warns that this is a pa...more
This book describes the climate change that occurred beginning around 1315 and lasting until the nineteenth century. The author uses contemporary science and its tools along with written records, mainly from England, to reveal how the climate cooled, and dampened. Crop yields fell, and since the vast majority of those societies lived at the subsistence level, devastating famines occurred and there was basically no backup. In addition, wars, like the Hundred Years War, and the plague added to the...more
Given that the so much of human life had been concerned with farming and feeding itself, studying the effect of weather is to review the practice of farming. How did pre-industrial developments increase food supply, and increase diversity such that weather events don't destroy all of the crop. Interwoven are the observations about crop planting and fishing in particular regions that informs us about the weather at that time. If cod were available, the water temperature was in this range. If grap...more
The amount of time Fagan must have spent in dark and dusty European archives blows my mind. His research uncovers forgotten records in amazing detail. Unfortunately, the book could use an equally fastidious editor. Very interesting, if poorly organized. I still recommend it, though!
A mixed bag. On some levels really interesting but on other levels, I learned more than I wanted to know about the history of cod fishing. But I also learned a lot about the French Revolution in relationship to agricultural practices, which apparently evolved a lot more slowly in France than they did in England. Then there's a bunch of stuff about how filthy and miserable the peasantry is. But the Year Without a Summer was awesome, and climate-changing volcanic eruptions are awesome, and entire...more
Using climate modeling based on ice cores and tree rings, archaeologist Brian Fagan tracks the social and economic effects of the chilling, centuries-long turn in the weather over Western Europe during the critical period of 1300-1850. From the wet summers that created sickly people for the coming black plague, the mud of Agincourt, the rise of the Hansa, the collapse of the Greenland colony, silting of crucial medieval ports and the opening of others, the brutality of subsistence farming, death...more
Fascinating overview of climate cooling/warming from 1300-1850 (with additional info up through the 1970s). Focus is on Northern Europe--England, Ireland, France, Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, with additional info from around the world to illustrate worldwide cooling/warming.
For me, two things are especially interesting:
--Fagan describes the climate-driven enclosure process in England, which left the poor with no access to land, and describes their becoming very poor farm laborers, driving im...more
For me, two things are especially interesting:
--Fagan describes the climate-driven enclosure process in England, which left the poor with no access to land, and describes their becoming very poor farm laborers, driving im...more
I like to think that I know a lot about history. Periodically, authors like Brian Fagan teach me how much more there is to know. This book is bursting with information about how the Medieval period I thought I understood,was formed and influenced by factors I didn't know or didn't understand. Let's start with style. Fagan is a dynamic writer. He moves his narrative along swiftly and surely like a championship skier on a difficult downhill. We get the thrills and not the spills. When I say thrill...more
Brian M. Fagan's The Little Ice Age is a fascinating general history of Europe that focuses on the role of climate change (specifically, the five and a half centuries of extreme cold and unsettled weather that affected Northern Europe from 1300 to 1850.) The book is strongest when Fagan focuses the early parts about the Medieval Warm Period and the abrupt changes in that occurred in the 14th century; the later chapters are more cursory, although the history of agriculture in 18th century France...more
I really enjoy books like this. Ones that paint a new light on historical events and demonstrate new ways of looking at those events. It's not that this books says that the weather patterns described are the real cause of historical events, but that they have a significant impact on the results of those events and should be a recognized factor.
It's evident that in recollections or historical articles the weather itself is simply a footnote in the annuls of singular battles or famines. However,...more
It's evident that in recollections or historical articles the weather itself is simply a footnote in the annuls of singular battles or famines. However,...more
If the author can't take the time to properly organize his writing, I don't have the time to read it. It sounds like he did a lot of research and fully convinced himself, then vomited out a rambling list of anecdotes organized vaguely chronologically and geographically.
I'm not trying to claim I would have done a better job; I'm sure my thesis reads somewhat similarly (at least in terms of the rambling anecdotes. I'm pretty sure I gave mine a better overall structure), but since a total of 5 peop...more
I'm not trying to claim I would have done a better job; I'm sure my thesis reads somewhat similarly (at least in terms of the rambling anecdotes. I'm pretty sure I gave mine a better overall structure), but since a total of 5 peop...more
I liked the idea behind this book, and some of the themes and talking points generated by it, but I found it to be lacking in depth. After a while it felt like an endless skipping record of "it was really cold, then it wasn't for a while, then it was again," all of which could have been summed up by saying that the little ice age caused variable and volitile cllimate conditions, which de-stabilized civilization...look for more of this in the future. Good idea, just couldn't hold my attention.
The author carefully detailed the weather fluctuations since the medieval warm period. The author clearly believes that CO2 emissions are causing global warming, but is honest enough to present some of the evidence to the contrary. For example right now the sun is producing the most radiation that has been recorded. It is possible that part of our observed warm up is from that.
Also the medieval warm period seems like it was warmer than today. Wine was produced in England, it isn't today. Also i...more
Also the medieval warm period seems like it was warmer than today. Wine was produced in England, it isn't today. Also i...more
This is an interesting history that deals, for the most part, with the ebb and flow of the climate in Europe from the middle ages to modern times. The sweep of history is seen in the context of a highly variable climatic regime. The discussion of the possible implications of our current situation vis-a-vis climate change is good. Presentation of some of the data in tabular form, especially the ups and downs of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) would have been helpful.
So often the forces that shape history are barely acknowledged in history courses. Here's an example: the little ice age which determined SO MUCH of what happened politically, socially and economically from 1300 to 1850! And as a history major, I had NEVER heard anyone mention it! This interesting account will give insight into how much weather shapes history.
I remember that this book made me realise how stuff we don't think about, like the semi-permanent change in the weather, really shapes the course of human history.
I recently saw a BBC documentary on grass which made me realise the same thing: we may feel like we're the masters of nature, but nature controls us more than we think!
I recently saw a BBC documentary on grass which made me realise the same thing: we may feel like we're the masters of nature, but nature controls us more than we think!
Loved this book. If the climatological timeline of Earth is like a highway stretching the united states, the little ice age is a country road in Illinois. The scale of climate change and humanity's involvement seem to be very important aspects and Brian Fagan does a fantastic job of bringing climate and weather a real world view.
On several occasions between 1695 and 1728, inhabitants of the Orkney Islands off Northern Scotland were startled to see an Inuit in his kayak paddling off their coasts. On one memorable occasion, a kayaker came as far South as the river Don near Aberdeen. These solitary Arctic hunters had probably spent weeks marooned on large ice floes.
Between the relative stability of the mediaeval and modern warm periods, came hundreds of years of climatic instability. The climate seesawed randomly between h...more
Between the relative stability of the mediaeval and modern warm periods, came hundreds of years of climatic instability. The climate seesawed randomly between h...more
Very interesting book. Worth a read. It attempts to show that there is an actual link between climactic conditions and history. I think it tentatively does show a link for at least some events. Of course, this thesis isn't terribly popular among professional historians, but the argument is at least worth a read.
On of those books where the fundamental idea is more interesting then the details (at least to me).
It's stimulating when you learn how much the "fixed landscape" isn't very fixed. Of course, by the thirteenth description of changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation, it's no longer so interesting
It's stimulating when you learn how much the "fixed landscape" isn't very fixed. Of course, by the thirteenth description of changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation, it's no longer so interesting
Interesting book weather phenomena and its effects on man and history. Everthing you didn't know from how the Artic cold water drop creates the Gulf Steam and it's effect on Temperature to what the effect Krakatoa eruption had on the World's weather sysem.
Its a short and interesting read
Its a short and interesting read
Fagan is an engaging author that has done his research and cleverly connects human activities around the world. It is fascinating to read of the connections of weather and world events. If you have anthropology in your background, you should definitely read any of Fagan's books.
This was quite interesting, but the author is neither a scientist nor a historian and it sometimes showed. The book was not that well organised either and it was often just a catalogue of selected weather events. I was hoping for either something new or a decent synthesis of well-known data and it didn't really deliver on either count.
I enjoyed this book because it explained Climate Change in an understandable form. It took me a long time to make my way through it, 10 weeks, but non-fiction just takes me longer. Sometimes I have to think about what I am reading.
Jul 18, 2012
Katie
added it
Brian Fagan is an archaeologist that writes popular books on archaeology. Some of his ideas are debated but his writing style makes his books very interesting to read unlike most academic books on the subject of archaeology.
In this age when Know-Nothing anti-science, anti-knowledge, anti-fact Republicans claim that global warming is a hoax and place our world in peril as a result, this book puts climate change in historical context. The data is indisputable: tree rings, ice cores, vineyard records. The historical impact of weather shifts is there if anyone cares to look: famines, which lead (if indirectly) to war & political upheaval. Parts of this book are almost too painful to get through - I am thinking of t...more
This book is technical and tells a story. For you global warming folks, you will hate it cause it shows you that climate warms and cools and man or fossil fuels does not make any difference.
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Brian Murray Fagan
is an author of popular archaeology books and emeritus professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Prof. Fagan is an archaeological generalist, with expertise in the broad issues of human prehistory. He is the author or editor of 46 books, including seven widely used undergraduate college texts.
Additional information at Wikipedia.
More about Brian M. Fagan...
Prof. Fagan is an archaeological generalist, with expertise in the broad issues of human prehistory. He is the author or editor of 46 books, including seven widely used undergraduate college texts.
Additional information at Wikipedia.
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Feb 01, 2013 05:54am